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Correction: The initial version of this post mistakenly said that Codexis is partnered with Chevron; Codexis' partnership is with Shell. Chevron was an early investor in Codexis.

Billions of dollars have been poured into alternative energy technologies and companies in the past several years. The four areas most likely to reach cost competitiveness over the next decade? Advanced biofuels, onshore wind, solar photovoltaic energy and concentrated solar power –according to a newly released report from energy experts at Boston Consulting Group. These four technology areas are also the most likely to disrupt the status quo by 2025, the report says.

"Alternative energies have always been 10 years away," says Balu Balagopal, a BCG senior partner and one of the authors of the report. "But the future may be closer than you think."

Balagopal and his colleagues state that advanced biofuels –specifically various forms of cellulosic ethanol (ethanol made from non-food sources)-- are on the verge of becoming cost competitive with $3 per gallon gasoline by 2012-2015. BCG's estimates for the current production of cellulosic ethanol are $2 a gallon. Executives like John McCarthy, chief executive of biofuel start-up Qteros, put that figure a bit higher, closer to $2.50 a gallon. When you factor in ethanol's lower energy density compared to gasoline, production costs are closer to $3.10 a gallon today, using BCG's estimates and methodology.

The BCG report didn't single out any specific companies within promising sectors, but some of the publicly traded firms operating in advanced biofuels include Codexis, which has a partnership with Shell for biofuels; and Amyris, which is pursuing specialty chemicals as well as renewable fuels.

Onshore wind, another potential disruptive technology, is already cost competitive in many part of the world at 9-10 cents per kilowatt-hour, says Petros Paranikas, a BCG partner and co-author or the report. He estimates that by 2015 the cost of onshore wind will decline 15%. The barriers to adoption include availability of sites for wind installation, a lack of transmission lines and funding to build those lines and permitting delays. Wind adoption will hit a ceiling unless an affordable way to store it is deployed, Paranikas says. BCG doesn't name firms, but some of the largest wind companies are Vestas of Denmark and GE.